


'Cause you are near and everything's clear

by truthofmydreams



Category: Anastasia (1997), Anastasia - Flaherty/Ahrens/McNally
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Amnesia, Christmas, F/M, Fluff, Inspired by Hallmark Christmas Movies, Kinda AU, Memory Loss, Modern, Modern AU, One Shot, Temporary Amnesia, this is a hallmark movie story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:01:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28076640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/truthofmydreams/pseuds/truthofmydreams
Summary: When she wakes up in the hospital without her memories and only someone that works at her family's hotel manages to make Anya feel like herself and not worry about her not getting her memories back, what will happen with the Christmas time magic?
Relationships: Dimitri | Dmitry/Anya | Anastasia Romanov (Anastasia 1997 & Broadway)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 18





	'Cause you are near and everything's clear

**Author's Note:**

> This has been inspired by an Instagram post by officialbroadwayworld asking "Which Broadway stars would you want to see in a Hallmark movie and why?" And I immediately thought of Christy and Derek. And then I thought about how it could be a little bit like Anastasia but Hallmark Christmas Movie Style
> 
> Title taken from Underneath the Tree by Kelly Clarkson
> 
> Please note that English is not my first language.

She slowly looks around at the unfamiliar bright room. She realizes that she is in a hospital room. Loud chattering from several people can be heard so she decides to lay still for a few more moments to try and figure out if she knows these voices but her mind is blank.

Realizing this she tries to speak but her throat is dry and just a croaking sound comes out of her mouth which immediately shuts up the voices in the room before the noise even louder and comes closer to where she is in the room.

“Should we get a nurse or doctor?”

“Yes, we definitely should.”

“We’re so glad that you are okay.”

The questions are overwhelming her but they don’t stop until a doctor walks in and starts asking her more questions such as “How do you feel?” and “Can you remember what happened?”. She couldn’t. She couldn’t remember what had happened, she couldn’t remember who the people with the many questions were, she couldn’t remember who she was. It was frustrating for everyone. But the people in the room said that they were her siblings and that she was the youngest daughter and one of the older sisters of the only boy in the family.

They said that her name was Anastasia but most people called her Nastya, which did not feel right to her. They said that they all worked at the hotel that the family owned and that she was responsible for event planning.

She had to stay in the hospital for a few more days for brain scans and to see if her memory would come back and for that she was glad.

* * *

On the fourth day of her stay at the hospital, she was allowed to walk around for some time to stretch her legs and get some fresh air.  
A beautiful park was part of the hospital and she sat down on a bench next to a man that must have been around her age, “Are you visiting family?”, she asks him.  
The man smiles at her, “No, my supervisor at work managed to hurt himself while hanging up the Christmas lights. Are you feeling better? It looks like you have been here for a while.”  
“I think so. I can’t remember anything about my life and I am not even sure that the name my family calls me feels like me.”  
“Well, what name do you think feels more like you?”, the man says and leans back against the cold wood of the bench they are sitting on.  
“They call me Nastya, short for Anastasia but I think Anya is more fitting.”, she says, “Yes, I think my name is Anya.”  
“Nice to meet you, Anya.”, the man says and stands up as another figure approaches them and walks towards him. “Wait, I don’t know your name.”, Anya says as the man walks towards the other man with a bandaged hand. He just turns around and smiles before she cannot see him anymore.

* * *

A week later she is at the hotel where her family lives. Her oldest sister Olga said that it was the first one their great-grandfather had opened decades ago and it has always been the home for everyone that worked in the family’s business. They also told her that she didn’t need to worry about work or anything, just try and get better.

With everyone at work, Anya decides to walk around the grounds of the hotel and towards something that looks like a barn with someone hanging up even more Christmas lights than were already attached to the outside of the main house.

“Hey”, Anya yells at the person after she made sure that he would not get startled too much and fall off of the ladder he is standing on.  
The man doesn’t turn around but responds anyway, “Hello Anya. I hope you’re feeling better.”  
“How do you know that I prefer to be called Anya now?”  
“We talked about it at the hospital remember?”, the man says when he finally reaches the ground and turns around to face Anya. Her face scrunches up in realization at who is standing in front of her, “And why didn’t you tell me that you worked here?”  
“You looked like you wanted to talk to someone who would not bring up your past.”  
“Well, that was rude and ignorant and I just wanted to talk to a stranger and you misused my trust in that.”, Anya starts to yell at him, “And you still haven’t told me your name!”  
“Dmitry.”  
“Dmitry, you are not a good person!”, with those words Anya storms away to the main house of the hotel, stomping by her younger brother Alexei who is on his way outside to the barn.

As Alexei reaches Dmitry he smirks and says, “How do you always manage to get her to be mad at you in less than five minutes?”  
The older one laughs, “It is a talent.” “Yeah, or the fact that the two of you have been sneaking around everyone for a while before the accident and this is your weird version of foreplay.”  
“Ha ha very funny.”, Dmitry says and throws a snowball at the youngest Romanov sibling.  
Trying to get the snow out of his face, Alexei speaks up again, “But seriously: Why didn’t you tell her about why the accident happened and that the two of you have been together since like forever.”  
“First of all, we haven’t been together forever just for a few months. And you know why. I don’t want her to get angry again and for the fight with your grandmother to continue.”  
“But Nana was wrong, she should not have been so harsh to you and Nastya about her taking you to the Winter Ball. We’re not living in a time where social standing should dictate who you are in a relationship anymore.”, Alexei starts pacing during his rant about the day of the accidents.  
“Thanks, man but what if she doesn’t like me like that anymore?”, Dmitry says and just as Alexei wants to respond he cuts in before walking away, “Trust me it is better this way.”.

* * *

A week later Anya walks around the grounds of the hotel again and once again finds Dmitry as he is carrying the decorations for a Christmas tree into the barn-like building.

“Do you mind some company? Everyone seems to be busy with work and they won’t let me do anything.”, she asks and Dmitry just nods. Together they decorate the tree inside and Dmitry tells her that in this place there is a kids Christmas party every year with several activities such as making ornaments and gingerbread houses and cookie decorating.  
“That sounds great. I bet the children love it”, Anya says with a sad smile on her face wishing she could remember all of these traditions and parties.  
Dmitry puts a hand on her shoulder, “They do and so do you. Every year you force me to help out and last year you told me that this is your favourite out of all the events you get to plan that and the Christmas movie marathon night. You should at least come even if your sisters were the ones that organized it.”.  
“I think I might but I have heard Maria and Olga discuss which movies they will show and I might have to sneak in before and switch out some DVDs.”, Anya says with a smile and blush at the warmth she feels inside of her because of Dmitry’s touch.  
With a groan, Dmitry puts a hand over his eyes as he says, “Please don’t tell me they want the children to watch one of the sappy Christmas love story movies that are on TV all the time? The kids will just start a riot again and it was not a lot of fun to scrape marshmallow bits from the walls after they started throwing food because they were so bored.”  
Anya laughs out loud for the first time since leaving the hospital.

* * *

The Winter Ball is only a week away and Anya finds herself spending more and more time with Dmitry. She helps him decorate and getting things ready for the children’s Christmas party and movie marathon and he takes her out for hot chocolate, ice skating and one time even a horse-drawn sledge ride through the snow saying that they need to test out the new sledge before the hotel guests could book the rides.

Anya realizes that she slowly feels like herself and not the person in everyone’s memories when she is with Dmitry and invites him into her suite at the hotel to decide which movie to switch the love story one out for.

At one point she must have fallen asleep because she can hear people screaming. It sounds like her grandmother and herself before she hears laughter and can see herself and another person and then a loud crash and she startles awake with a scream.  
“Anya, are you okay?”, Dmitry is next to her within seconds as they had fallen asleep on the couch during one of the many movies they watched.  
She shakes her head with tears in her eyes, “I am not sure. I could hear yelling about a boyfriend and their voices and then a crash. I am so confused.”  
Dmitry puts an arm around her shoulders and pulls Anya closer to him to comfort her, “Everyone has nightmares and maybe this was a memory of the accident.”  
“Please don’t be like everyone else. They just keep telling me that my memories will come back and I really wish they would but everyone is just hoping for me to suddenly be myself again. I just wish I knew my own story.”, Anya says with tears in her eyes.

“Sometimes remembering things is just not worth it trust me.”

Anya sighs and scoots away from Dmitry, “Can you tell me something from your past?”  
“What would you like to hear?”  
“The memory that is not worth remembering.”

With a heavy sigh, Dmitry starts talking, “It was years ago and I was a little boy about ten years old, we were doing Secret Santa in my class and my father and I went to the mall to buy something generic for the kid I had picked and when she opened it, she didn’t like it. I had even asked another girl at the store to help me pick something out so it wouldn’t be completely stupid. And the girl walked around the whole store with me until she found what she deemed the perfect Secret Santa gift and I wanted to ask her if she would like to maybe meet up at a park or something but then someone came and she had to leave all of the sudden.”

“Aww, that is sweet. I feel like I was there, too.”, Anya says with a wistful smile and tears still in her eyes.  
“Maybe you were. How about you make it part of your story.”, Dmitry says and makes a gesture with his hand to tell her to go on and make the story her own.

“I was eight and at the mall with my Nanny and older sister and there was a young boy completely lost at what to get as a Secret Santa gift for a girl. His Shirt was at least one size too big and his eyes were hidden by his floppy hair. He asked me to help him and I took his hand to find the perfect gift. When we found it, he was about to say something when my nanny took my hand and dragged me away. I turned around once more to smile at him and when I did, he bowed his head.”  
“I didn’t tell you that.”, Dmitry says with panic in his voice.

“You didn’t have to, I remember.”  
“You really were the girl I met so many years ago.”, he says and takes her hand unsure if Anya remembered more or just this moment from their childhoods.  
“The first time you kissed me was at Marfa’s Christmas party under the mistletoe last year and we have been kind of dating since then but really been together since last May.”  
“Anya…”  
“And you are the only one who called me Anya even before the accident.”, the girl says with a gasp following, “The accident happened the night I told my Nana that I wanted to go to the Winter Ball with you but she has been disapproving of our relationship due to social standards. So stupid. But we were fighting and I ran out of her penthouse and on the street, someone on their bike ran me over and I hit my head on the pavement.”

“Anya, are you okay?”, Dmitry asks softly not sure if her remembering everything all at once could be hurting her in one way or another.  
“Yes, my head hurts a little but Dima, what happened after this?”, Anya asks, using her nickname for Dmitry.

Sitting up to fill in the gaps, Dmitry starts to speak, “I was waiting outside for you and could not get to you fast enough to stop you from hitting the ground and when I knew you were safe in the hospital I went to your grandmother’s home and told her what happened and that I am not with you because your family has money or who you are, just that I love and want to be with you and that her outdated world views have put you in the hospital. She then apologized and even invited me to that stupid Winter Ball herself.”

“But why didn’t you say anything here or even at the hospital?”  
“I didn’t want to overwhelm you anymore and I couldn’t be with you when you woke up because Vlad kept managing to hurt himself while working and I had to step in.”  
Anya tries to hide her laugh as she remembers Vlad’s affinity for injuries, “I understand. And I think I am glad that you did not try to force me to remember.”

The two settle back down into a more comfortable position on the couch. The TV still on with a menu of some Christmas movie on the screen.

“So, you love me?”, Anya says with a smile on her face and cuddles into Dmitry’s side who groans and kisses Anya’s head instead of saying anything.


End file.
